So I have recently acquired a copy of Andy Cockroft's 4wd North Island Adventures and was wondering if anyone had any info on the following paper roads that are listed in there? Don't wanna go driving on things that have since been privatized or closed.

Sim road is a short but gnarly little road, haven't been there for a few years but the farmer does fence it off and have his cows in there often.

Definitely not worth a trip if your after something scenic, its just a rough clay track covered with gorse n cow shit but for what it is its pretty rough and fun in the wet. Expect to not get in easily if its fenced off and its not worth a battle with the farmer.

Cheers mate, know of any other paper roads around Auckland that are worth having a look into? Most my wheeling is done down the line but just looking for somewhere close for a day's worth of fun whilst I'm stuck here in Auckland for the next month or so.

It's not completely correct. A farmer is allowed to use a paper road for grazing etc so therefore a temporary electric fence or something can be erected but permanent blocking? Nope. Only people that can do that legally are councils and / or doc if on that land.

Thing is with Sim road its a dead end road that ends at an old bridge that you can't cross as its rotted out, so it leads to no where. Its in the middle of farm land. Technically you could enter, its only a wire fence. It's basically just a 1km cattle race

stovanovich wrote:It's not completely correct. A farmer is allowed to use a paper road for grazing etc so therefore a temporary electric fence or something can be erected but permanent blocking? Nope. Only people that can do that legally are councils and / or doc if on that land.

Ok so would be allowed to pass through, putting back what ever temporary device was there. And not harassing stock. I guess it's one of those times when a friendly chat with the farmer beforehand would remove any chance of a misunderstanding.

I got abused by a farmer in the middle of the Dunstan road because I was in one of his paddocks. I was following the road on a map and there was no signs or anything suggestion no access!

Yes, you have to watch yourself a bit doing that sort of thing. The technical term is:

"Unformed Legal Roads"

Sounds a lot more "formal" than calling them paper roads. The term "paper road" tends to lead the uninitiated to imagine that the road doesn't really exist, it exists only on paper as such.

I also find that the term 'unformed legal road" is also miss leading. If there is any visible type of track or designated route present, then technically the road is formed to a degree. Just because it doesn't have a metal or bitumen surface, if its had a machine down it at some point in History, its a formed legal road

Biggest problem we run into chasing these roads, is that more often than not the route that's been put in deviates ever so slightly from the legal alignement, and that seems to provide grounds for private entities such as adjacent land owners to block access. For what ever reason councils are reluctant to help out in the slightest, even though they may have historically funded the creation of the road alignment and its slight deviation somewhere in the past

Erua Road is a good example of that.

If you find access restricted, and it makes you grumpy, rather than stir up the farmer, take that frustration home and hit up WAMS or PANZ as they are fighting for our access, and hit up the local council too for good measure.

I use this a lot when researching routes, and its mobile friendly now too. Purple is for public access

DieselBoy wrote:If you find access restricted, and it makes you grumpy, rather than stir up the farmer, take that frustration home and hit up WAMS or PANZ as they are fighting for our access, and hit up the local council too for good measure.

I use this a lot when researching routes, and its mobile friendly now too. Purple is for public access

All the roads I mentioned above are purple on WAMS (Including all of Sim road) do you think that in this case it's fair game to drive down? I don't wanna go stepping on people's toes and causing unforeseen trouble for the rest of the 4x4ing community and all.

Talk to the farmer first, there's a few houses right there, but don't be pushy if you think he's getting iffy about it, the road isn't worth it, most that would go there would only be going to do skids..Its not scenic to justify the drive there and its too short to be worth taking a well equiped vehicle there, only worth it if your a local..It can be fun..

Bare in mind the farmer probably never sees traffic threw there and when he does it's idiots going just to do skids, there's a good chance his cows r in there

Sim Road is not worth it. As already stated its no more than a 1 km farm race and total dead end these days due to the rail bridge or non existence of it.Even when we used it, a car could easily drive it as well so nothing special.

Some of the ones up Rodney way are able to be accessed if you can find the right person with the key to the gate for access.Zanders used to be a good road to drive until it became built up and forestry put up a gate.

You have to remember that Andy's book was published in 1997 and then revised in 2002 some 14 years ago. A lot has changed in that time.

Ralfie wrote:You have to remember that Andy's book was published in 1997 and then revised in 2002 some 14 years ago. A lot has changed in that time.

Yeah well that's kinda why I was asking, because it was published so long ago so probably not many tracks in there are overly relevant anymore.Not adamant on trying Sim road It just sounds like the only one actually still in existence.

The unformed legal road (ULR) situation around Auckland has evolved since the Cockroft book and the increasing population. Auckland Transport have been working on a 'policy document' that should shortly be posted on their website. I've seen a copy and it's not unfavourable to 4x4 recreation. They consulted Walking Access and others in compiling the document. It sets out clearly what landowners and users must respect.

As far as an ULR to enjoy, one is the sandy extension to Wilson Rd on Kaipara South Head. It leads out onto Muriwai Beach (actually Te Rangitira at that point) which gives the option of picking the tides to drive back down the beach to the Muriwai exit by the stream.

I've been Google Mapping Ararimu Valley Rd and Zanders Rd, looks like a well formed gravel road with a lot of lifestyle blocks and the like, but might head up there for a drive sometime just to check out the area.

smurf182 wrote:I've been Google Mapping Ararimu Valley Rd and Zanders Rd, looks like a well formed gravel road with a lot of lifestyle blocks and the like, but might head up there for a drive sometime just to check out the area.

Please keep off the grass verge in Ararimu Valley Rd(which is private property). We have been getting complaints from the locals about 4x4s on the grass verg damaging the grass and Telephone cables. While I realize that it has been going on for years, its not a good look for 4x4ing in generalTony Burgess

I've got the same book from AndyC, and have been trying a few roads here and there around Auckland region. Most have been blocked off. But respect and asking first always got me access (when obviously being used by a farmer).Slowly getting through the list - attempted about 3 or so so far, found 5-6 already blocked up and chained. All pretty tame but nice scenic drives for the kids.

driving a lot of paper roads is just proving a point often achieving little more than driving through a bunch of useless paddocks or cabbage fields andy Cockcroft and all his mates went down in history for doing a lot of irreparable damage to the 4wd community with all that pointless johnsons road shit and bad publicity they generated a few years back it'll take all those local cockies and their neighbours about a 100,000,000 years to forget it and let any genuine and responsible 4WDs back on their properties again, time and effort is better spent campaigning for access to land that has genuine 4x4 values and attributes than pissing locals off ripping the place up driving over all their cabbages and spooking their stock what ever happened to the nzfwda tread lightly policy

Well yes, Ararimu Valley Rd does look like the redneck verge hacking capital of West Auckland. It's a mix of sealed and gravel road that is just a nice place to take a drive on a sunny arvo, but definitely no 4x4 opportunities unless you're into ripping up private property.

At the end of the gravel section of Zanders Rd there is a couple hundred metres of dirt road, but that abruptly ends in someones back garden (I walked down) where it meets Ararimu Valley Rd, so not terribly interesting unless it turns into a bog in winter. And I doubt you'll make friends with the people living there. Public access according to the WAMS map.

Chatham Rd I didn't get a chance to look into as it was getting dark, there was a gate at the start but has been removed, but probably similar to Zanders in that it doesn't really go anywhere, and passes through someones back yard. Also public access according to WAMS.

One place in the area that does get frequented often is Hull Rd, I've been through and was a pretty narly track in winter (multiple trucks required). Quite scenic too.

Well that got out of hand quickly, pretty sure all I wanted was some general info about whether said roads were open still & the condition they were in. Didn't mean for the hate flood-gates to open up on the author on what may or may not have happened.

smurf182 wrote:One place in the area that does get frequented often is Hull Rd, I've been through and was a pretty narly track in winter (multiple trucks required). Quite scenic too.

Keen on another mission up there bro? (we should also do another woodhill outing once it opens again)

There always seem to be other opinions on almost anything and Derk expresses his. Contrary to his rant, the Johnson Rd Environment Court decision was actually very important to 4WD and other recreations. Since that decision there have been almost no road stoppings allowed by the Environment Court which has 'saved' many kilometres of unformed legal roads (ULR).

The farmers don't own them, they just get free use if they want to graze the ULR. Certainly that can mean that some ULR are quite tame to negotiate across farmland, there are others that are challenging and some that lead to interesting destinations.

Auckland Transport have recognised the growing interest in ULR by many recreations and last week published online a well balanced document "Management of Unformed Legal Roads" that sets out the rules that landowners and road users should follow.